


Special Feature: Graphics Masterpost and The Setting of the Story

by Canon_Is_Relative, stardust_made



Series: The College AU [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Banners & Icons, M/M, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 13:44:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3070352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canon_Is_Relative/pseuds/Canon_Is_Relative, https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardust_made/pseuds/stardust_made
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We're excited to share the link to the graphics master post, and tell you a little about what we call "the College AU," that is, the 'verse of the "Catch Me in a Dark Room (with a Storm Outside)" series. The images in the banner are pretty specific to the setting, so now that we're underway, I thought I’d explain a little bit for those who are interested….</p>
            </blockquote>





	Special Feature: Graphics Masterpost and The Setting of the Story

**Author's Note:**

> The "I" in this post is Canon_is_Relative :]

 

**[First: all of Milly’s phenomenal graphics can be found here](http://milly-gal.livejournal.com/515485.html)!**

Hugs and tons of thanks go out to [](http://milly-gal.livejournal.com/profile)[**milly_gal**](http://milly-gal.livejournal.com/) for working with us and coming up with icons and banners that we’re so thrilled with.  
I _love_ the style of them, and I especially appreciate the warm, soft tones she used. They are perfect visuals for the story as it takes place in this somewhat "softer" world that we've imagined for them.

  
/ 

We couldn't use them all, so check out her [Graphics Masterpost](http://milly-gal.livejournal.com/515485.html) to see the rest, and leave her some love in the comments. ♥

 

There’s a story to why the College AU is set in Madison, Wisconsin, and what it really boils down to is this: like most of Supernatural, this story could take place anywhere. It could be set in your own hometown, and if you want to imagine that, awesome! Go for it. But when we first started talking about writing this story almost a year ago now, I was a newcomer to Supernatural, I was inexperienced in writing the boys: so when the chance came to place them somewhere new, I jumped at the idea of placing them somewhere I _knew_.

I was drawn to the idea of Sam consciously choosing somewhere central, too. His teenaged flight to California must have felt like a chance to run until he couldn’t run any more; getting as far away as possible. But now his choice of Wisconsin -- a central location, and one which has hosted a LOT of episodes including some of my favorites ([Something Wicked](http://kimchesters.tumblr.com/post/95996919807/mooseleys-king-or-two-queens), for example, takes place in a suburb of Madison) -- was a more mature decision, reasonably arrived at after consideration of how leaving again would affect not only himself but his brother.

_“And anyway, Dean, how often do you actually get out to California? I mean, compare that to how many times we’ve passed through Wisconsin these last years. Like every couple months, sometimes? If I go back to Stanford…I’m never gonna see you.”_

I’m back for Christmas right now, in my hometown of Madison, WI, and the other day I ended up sitting for awhile in the exact spot where Sam is when a kind of pivotal text conversation happens, and I didn’t really plan it but because I’m a humongous dork I was dressed in my Winchester best.

 

 

Shut up, leather over plaid over Henley is totally cool.

  
It’s a little surreal to be visiting a place where I’ve been picturing Sam and Dean for the past nine or so months, and since we’ve started posting and I get to look almost every day at the beautiful banner  
[ **milly_gal** ](http://milly-gal.livejournal.com/) made for us, I wanted to share a bit about it with you.

 

[ ](http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/milly_gal/49066293/9681670/9681670_original.jpg)

The three center images from left to right: First is the statue of Lincoln in front of Bascom Hall, arguably _the_ iconic building on the UW - Madison campus. It sits atop Bascom Hill which is a glorious place in the summertime: lush grass and flowerbeds and college students sprawled out on blankets. It’s to this area that Dean is headed when he finds Sam here: _Stretched out on the steps outside the church, eyes closed and face tipped up to the sun as if_ it _was the god of light, Sam was like a human statue waiting to be seen._

 

[Pres House](http://preshouse.org/vip-application-deadline-fireside-chat/)

  
In the middle: Lightning storm over the Capitol. I sent Milly this picture along with the note: _That domed building is the capitol and state law prohibits anything being built higher than it, so basically no matter where you are in the city you can see it, lit up, at all times. It's beautiful, and from where Sam lives he would probably see something like it while looking out the window and texting Dean on the night we are (potentially) naming the story for._

 

Spoilers: We did name the story for that night. Keep reading :]

  
And finally, the Sunburst Chairs! The place I mentioned above where I ended up sitting the other day, that’s the Student Union and if it wasn’t freaking December, the place would look like this:

 

 

 

  
♥ As for the pictures of our boys.... ♥

 

  
/   
Source images: [Dean](http://www.homeofthenutty.com/supernatural/screencaps/displayimage.php?album=63&pid=24032#top_display_media) / [Sam](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8udt7kd6K1qapp5ko1_500.png)

  
As we said in a recent note on the story: _Every text exchange between Sam and Dean was role-played in real time. We did them without any preparation or agenda—we had zero idea what would come out of each of them and in a sense, we left the characters to shape the story._

What started as an exercise to get into character ended up taking on a life of its own and what came out in their text conversations really truly shaped the course of the story. What the ambiguous space between their phones comes to mean over the months they’re apart is the cornerstone of this story and so we wanted pictures that reflected that.

 

Bonus: [The Great Dane](http://www.greatdanepub.com/), the bar where Sam works.

 

  


Best beer and burgers (and brothers) in town

Thanks for reading! I hope that if you're following the College AU, you continue to enjoy it. *whispers* We're just about to get to the really exciting stuff! *grin* Happy New Year, all!


End file.
